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October 4, 1967, 7:19 P.M. Atlantic daylight time Douglas DC-8,Air Canada Flight 305 On Victor 300, level at 12,000 feet Between Sherbrooke and St Jean VOR Captain Pierre Guy Charbonneau relaxed in his seat in the cockpit, his eyes scanning the instruments on the panel before him. He took comfort from them, their dials dimly lit by red lights to protect his night vision. Each was reading exactly what it should be reading. He was on an IFR (instrument flight rules) flight plan and could have flown the entire trip keeping his eyes inside the cabin, trusting in these very instruments. The slipstream whispered by the windscreen of the DC-8 at 256 knots. Everything seemed in order. The first officer, Robert Ralph, was beside him. He allowed his gaze to wander outside the cockpit to the crisp, clear, and starry night sky. It was a good night for flying, with only a thin wispy cloud layer just below their altitude of twelve thousand feet. He glanced out of the window near his left shoulder, looking to the south. What he saw there made him sit up straighter in his seat. A well-lit, large, orange rectangular object, followed by a string of smaller lights, like the tail on a kite, was tracking parallel to their course at their altitude about twenty degrees above the horizon. The brightly lit object appeared to be huge. Captain Charbonneau immediately drew it to the attention of his first officer, Ralph. It was standard practice to alert each other about any other traffic in their vicinity. But this was something different, and they speculated about what it might be. Neither had ever seen anything like it before. Suddenly, at 1919 hours ADT, there was a sizable explosion near the larger object. They watched in amazement while this explosion turned into a big white ball-shaped cloud that quickly turned red in color, then violet, and then blue. The captain planted his feet on the rudder pedals and gripped the control yoke, ready to override the autopilot and take control if necessary. Two minutes later, at 1921 hours, there was another apparent explosion that turned into a second sphere, which was orange in color. This was bigger and higher up than the other but like the first, it, too, eventually faded to blue. The smaller lights on the "kite tail" broke formation with the rectangular object and began to dance around the spheres like fireflies. The captain let out his breath, realizing he had been holding it for some time. His first instinct was to insure control of the aircraft, checking airspeed, altitude, and course, but the autopilot was doing its job 1 properly. The captain and first officer kept an eye on the light show in the air for several more minutes, watching as the second pear-shaped cloud, glowing pale blue, drifted eastward. "What did you make of that?" Ralph asked. They had been speculating as to what the object was during the sighting. THE NIGHT OF THE UFOs Southeastern Quebec The captain shook his head with a puzzled expression. "I can honestly say I've never seen anything like